5 Ways to Fix Your Computer Screen Shadow Problem – SlashGear

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Depending on whether you play intense games or watch fast and vivid media, you may notice that certain moving images leave shadows on your computer screen. It can also manifest as blurry or double images or as black streaks across your monitor. However it happens, there’s little doubt that it ruins the viewing experience. This shadow problem on the computer screen is known as ghosting and is not so easy to solve. In fact, this is a very good reason to finally upgrade your computer monitor.

On the other hand, not everyone has a lot of money to spend on a new screen, but these smears and shadows can also be very disturbing. Fortunately, there are some options available that can help you resolve these issues without having to spend more money on a new installation. Even if you can’t fix the shadow issues directly, some of these solutions may be able to alleviate them, creating a smoother experience.

In some cases, ghosting is caused by a software problem and not hardware. Several sources have reported that graphics card drivers affect the appearance of smears and shadows in certain games, with some recommending that they be kept up to date and others saying that you may want to roll back the drivers. GPU updates can sometimes cause these problems by breaking previous settings or customizations. This can even happen on a game-by-game basis, resulting in shadows only appearing in some titles and not others.

Don’t forget your monitor itself. While graphics card drivers are important, monitors often have their own drivers or firmware that you’ll want to install as soon as you plug them in. Without these you cannot enjoy the full capabilities of what you have purchased, and specific cases can lead to blurry moving images. This is especially relevant if your monitor supports a high refresh rate, as this can significantly improve any shading issues you may be experiencing.

Using a monitor with a high refresh rate will make everything look as smooth as possible. Many displays support this, including high-resolution monitors like the Asus vg32I1a1a1which is more than double the standard rate of 60 Hz. However, you may want to see for yourself how to change the refresh rate on your Windows PC, as the best option is not always selected by default. If you haven’t experienced those higher settings, you may not even realize if they are active or not.

You may end up buying a new monitor with a high refresh rate, but you won’t be able to access it at certain resolutions. If you know it should be able to do that quality and speed, you can set custom resolutions on your Nvidia or AMD software. This should allow you to bypass any arbitrary restrictions set by your screen or Windows itself. Keep in mind that going beyond the monitor’s stated specifications may cause problems down the road (including shortening its lifespan) and fixing screen shadow issues will be the least of your worries at that point.

While Windows settings and drivers can help alleviate ghosting problems, the biggest culprit is the monitor itself. However, instead of replacing the screen, you need to look at the internal settings of the monitor, and the good news is that it is a lot cheaper. With most monitors you have access to a settings menu that allows you to adjust the screen independently of Windows and your GPU. If your monitor has settings that affect response time, such as pixel overdrive, or you can find settings specifically related to gamma or shadows, adjusting these can solve ghosting problems completely.

You might be surprised how universal these settings are, especially if you’re using a gaming monitor. Many affordable gaming monitors we’ve recommended have settings designed to reduce the blur and smearing caused by ghosting. Not everything can be changed by these options, with vertical alignment (VA) panels always at a disadvantage here compared to in-plane switching (IPS) monitors. But you’ll still benefit greatly from exploring deeply what your monitor can do, without additional software help.

It’s entirely possible that your ghosting problems have nothing to do with the monitor or even the computer. Instead, it could be the cable connecting these two devices. Different cables support different performance; Newer ones deliver better refresh rates at higher resolutions. For example, at 60 FPS one is easy Amazon Basics HDMI 2.0 Cable will handle 4K resolution better than a 1.4 cable. You may also encounter problems if the cable is damaged or of poor quality, although users agree that this shouldn’t really matter when it comes to ghosting issues.

Some have found that connecting cables to specific inputs and outputs led to variable levels of ghosting. Even some of the most expensive monitors from major brands end up using different inputs with different strengths. If you instead use a less powerful HDMI port or opt for a DisplayPort cable, it may change how well your screen can display images. As unlikely as it is to solve screen shadow issues compared to other solutions, it’s still worth looking into if you haven’t paid much attention to it before.

Some monitors will simply have more ghosting issues than others, and there isn’t much you can do to change that. But if you already have two monitors set up on Windows, you can at least ensure that you don’t have to concentrate on them all the time. It’s worth checking the specs of your monitors to see what panel types they have. As previously mentioned, VA panels will lead to greater shading issues, making them unsuitable as a primary display if that’s too much of an issue for you.

It goes without saying that this solution only really works if you have two completely different monitors. If one already has ghosting issues and the other is the exact same model, you can’t avoid those issues without purchasing a new screen. Still, having a VA panel as a secondary display isn’t the worst choice in the world, as it has fantastic colors and contrast. Just know that if this is the only panel type you have, you’ll only have to deal with shadows and smears no matter how many fixes you apply.